Withered Words
by Kuposan
Summary: My collection of songfics, from various genres, that will eventually cover most pairings and individual characters from the show. Most recent songfics: My Immortal & Castle on a Cloud.
1. Castle on a Cloud

Katara has a dream world, which includes toys, friends, and above all: her mother. A songfic around six year old Katara to the song 'Castle on a Cloud'. I took a few liberties here, the said liberties being:

I assumed Gran-Gran was Katara's-mothers-mother I assumed Katara's mother died when she was old enough to just have a hazy memory of her, but not really remember who she was. And I don't remember Katara's mother being given an official name, So I called her Kai. 

Thanks for bearing with me, and reveiws are always appreciated!

* * *

Katara packed snow furiously with her gloved hands, determined to finish before Gran-Gran called her in for the night.

_There is a castle on a cloud,_

_I like to go there in my sleep,_

_Aren't any floors for me to sweep,_

_Not in my castle on a cloud._

Her face set in a slight frown her leaned back, looking at the haphazard mountain of snow that was suppose to be her castle. This pitiful lump of white was supposed to be that palace she saw in her dreams; _her_ palace, where her stupid older brother Sokka did all the chores.

_There is a room that's full of toys,_

_There are a hundred boys and girls,_

_Nobody shouts or talks too loud,_

_Not in my castle on a cloud._

Pinning her old, battered doll to her chest with one arm she removed her right glove, hand stinging in the icy chill. 'This room' the six year old dictated to the doll 'will be for all the toys from _both_ poles.' As she spoke she sectioned off a part of the mound with by dragging her finger through it, creating a shaky square that was perfect by a child's standards. "This room" she said, beginning to section off a larger section "will be for all the children." Her finger was becoming numb fast, so to speed up the progress she placed her doll in a snow-chair and added the aide of her now ungloved left hand. "Everyone will get along because…." The young Katara stopped, biting her lip, brow furrowed in a furious search for a reason. "Because… I said so!" She finished triumphantly, grinning to no one in particular.

_There is a lady all in white,_

_Holds me and sings a lullaby,_

_She's nice to hear and she's soft to touch,_

_She says "Cosette, I love you very much."_

She thought over what to add next, and her face grew as serious as a six year old can manage. She carefully scooped up her doll, cradling it in her arms. "There's a lady in my castle." She told the doll softly, eyes staring unblinkingly at the polar horizon. "She sings to me, and the songs are about me. I don't know how she knows them, but I know I do." She'd begun rocking the doll slowly in her arms. "She wears a long white coat that's soft, and when you burrow your face into it…" She trailed off, let out a sigh of content. "She tells me she loves me more than anything, and that she'll never leave me." The tears began to well up in her round eyes, her breath becoming uneven.

_I know a place where no one's lost,_

_I know a place where no one cries,_

_Crying at all is not allowed,_

_Not in my castle on a cloud._

"You never need to feel lost in my castle" she sobbed quietly "because you know that's where you belong. And nobody needs to cry" She said, practically choking herself with the effort of stopping her tears. "You're not even allowed to cry," Her body shook from crying "Not …in my…castle" she managed to whisper in between sobs, sniffling loudly. She buried her face in her doll, the wet tears on her face stinging in the bitter cold.

Katara never heard her grandmother emerge fro the hut behind her; she didn't see how intensely her shadow was listening; most of all Katara didn't see Gran-Gran cry. _Kai was too loved, too **needed** to be ripped away from us _Gran-Gran thought, long-suppressed tears leaving trails of salt on her cheeks. _Katara needs her mother, and I want my daughter back._ Gran-Gran composed herself before waling forward and scooping her granddaughter into her arms. Katara's head lolled slightly, her small body's energy drained from crying. The two water-tribe members now had a secret they would keep forever.


	2. My Immortal

My Immortal- Grieving Katara

A songfic set three years ahead of the show. I am testing out my writing, so reveiws are loved, constructive critiscism doubly so.

_

* * *

_

_I'm so tired of being here  
Suppressed by all my childish fears_

She'd traveled around the world at least twice with Aang, preparing him and herself for the day he would face the fire lord. Why couldn't she bring herself to leave Sokka and help him? Her brother was deathly ill, and Katara had chosen to stay behind with him. Aang and the rebel army would travel to where they knew the fire nation would be, including the Fire Lord Ozai. A voice at the back of her head kept hissing _coward_ until she'd gone practically mad.

_  
And if you have to leave  
I wish that you would just leave  
'Cause your presence still lingers here  
And it won't leave me alone  
_

"_Katara…"_ She could still hear the sadness in his voice hours after he'd left. She could see him everywhere: looking at a map, playing with some boys, helping carry pails of water. Her feet carried her to the pier Aang had stood at the night before in much too deep of thought for his age._  
_

_These wounds won't seem to heal  
This pain is just too real  
There's just too much that time cannot erase  
_

She was needed here. There were far too many wounded to be cared for by the few woman they had. Sokka needed her here. Why did she feel like she was slime? The logic was all there, so why was she sobbing like she'd killed a man? Was it that she couldn't, or wouldn't stop her tears from tracing rivers down her cheeks?

_  
When you cried I'd wipe away all of your tears  
When you'd scream I'd fight away all of your fears  
And I held your hand through all of these years  
_

Her mind was flooded with memories of hugging a shaking figure close to stop his sobs, and all the nights she'd held his hand and whispered his nightmares away until Aang was claimed by a dreamless sleep. She helped him, no…watched him grow the past three years.

_But you still have  
All of me  
_

But now that he'd gone on without her, that she'd let him leave when he needed her most, she wasn't Katara anymore. She was the shell of her former self, working long days and sleepless nights with no life in her eyes, emotions bottled deep inside her chest.

_  
You used to captivate me  
By your resonating light  
Now I'm bound by the life you left behind  
_

They had been so care-free, all the days spent on Appa's back racing among the clouds. Aang was so blissfully unaware, so peacefully ignorant that it absolutely broke Katara's heart. She'd done everything she could to preserve that part of Aang. But when the army had assembled, everyone looked to her for guidance. 'She knew the Avatar, she knows what to do.' And in the months after that still hadn't changed, everyone expecting, practically pleading her to have answers she would never know.

_Your face it haunts  
My once pleasant dreams  
Your voice it chased away  
All the sanity in me  
_

What little time she had too sleep was consumed by dreams of him that left her gasping for breath and shaken to her core. These weren't the dreams of him she'd had in the past, not the ones where Aang brought peace to the world and her mother held them both in a warm embrace. Her decision to stay behind was slowly eating her alive.

_  
These wounds won't seem to heal  
This pain is just too real  
There's just too much that time cannot erase _

Kataratook every spare second to look for someone with news of the battle. When the news came back grim she would work herself to exhaustion, trying to let the dull ache in her muscles drown out her own bleak thoughts. But it never worked; however much time she spent trying to ignore those thoughts only brought them back stronger.

_  
I've tried so hard to tell myself that you're gone  
But though you're still with me  
I've been alone all along  
_

"He's the avatar! This day had to come!" She yelled to the still waters of the lake, trying to come to grips with herself; she would tackle reality later. Aang was in her every thought, dream, and breath; but she felt the ever-present distance between them, the one that had always been there. She'd asked people about it; about how there was a gap in-between her and her closest friend. The best answer had come from her grandmother, and just thinking about it racked her body with fresh sobs. "A deep part of you knew this would happen, Katara, it kept that distance to save what little shreds of sanity it could. It was an unwilling act of self-preservation."_  
_

_But you still have  
All of me_

But no matter the gap, no matter his age, no matter how far apart they could ever be, which wasn't tied to the confines of this world, Katara knew she would heal, and she would continue her life. But the Katara she had been only a short time before would only ever return with Aang.


End file.
